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Posted by tourdemars to Life on Mars at February 7, 2005 01:14 PM
Extremophilic microbes are a wild bunch. They can be found thriving in some of the most hostile environments imaginable – swimming in near-boiling water, eating rocks, lounging in sub-zero temperatures, and hanging out where radiation levels rival nuclear reactors. Recent discoveries have greatly expanded the range of these wild things. Here's a census of small creatures living in some of the worst conditions imaginable.TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.marsnews.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1117
I've alway held out hope that we could turn the "Red Weed" loose on Mars! It seems like one way to use the power of extreme biology to manufacture an environment not quite so hostile to our species. This could reduce the future costs of maintaining a permanent presence on Mars. We may not need to fully Terraform Mars in order to maintain industry and colonies there. If we could simply reduce the risk of sudden catastrophic loss of life it might make Mars a bit more attractive as an extension of Mankinds domain.
Posted by: Chris at February 9, 2005 11:55 AM
Chris comments seemed reasonable, however the main problem for biological terraformation of Mars seems to be the lack of nitrogen biocompatible in the soil. It is something that needs to be tested and I'm surprised that no rover mission is carrying any equipment to test.
Without Nitrogen compounds ready to absorb in the soil, there is little to no chance of plants ever succeding in Mars if not properly cared for.
Posted by: nikopol at February 11, 2005 06:03 AM